Collabs are the life of the Loop imo, no way better to learn and hone your craft, meet like mind music makers and ultimately create something that you would not be able to do alone

i have a few tips/techniques i've worked out from working with several friends up here, but there are always ways to get better at it, make the collabing more efficient and streamlined.....

to get a collab going...imo, more useful and direct than a new thread throwing the possibility up to everyone (though that seems to work) is to find someone who's music you like, and hit'em up to collab directly either thru their contact or in a review of a piece of theirs you particularly like

i think it's good to seek out some one who is better than you, someone you can learn from, or maybe works in a genre that you would like to take a shot at...

couple things:

+++you need not be working in the same daw as your collab parter(s)--my experience has been that this matters not at all, and you are seriously limiting your prospects if you stick to just your fellow daw users, in my mind it's much more important to find a person you can work with

+++some things to decide first off: genre, bpm, key (if you care), and most important- who is going to mix it? (#1) in this way there will not be a back and forth of huge project files, just one person collecting all the parts and putting them together, sending out test bounces as the thing progresses

+++be flexible, be willing to toss out bits and ideas that you like if it will make a track better, sometimes things just dont fit and you have to be willing to let things go, this is why its called a collab

+++be honest and direct about where it is all headed, i'm not saying tactless, just...constructive...it always seems its easier for others to hear your work (objective) than to hear your own...in this way you'll have no regrets in the final for something you did not say....

i could blather more but, i'll stop for now....

yeshintae : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoGreat topic beatl!
I think a lot of people here
these dayz are looking for collabs
but go about looking for them in tha
wrong ways...

Think you touched a GREAT point with
tha reviewing thing and NOT POSTING FORUM
TOPICS!

I found that me greatest collabs have come through
by just listening and keeping in touch with me fav
artists here! Review folks and you shall receive!

Peace from LA

RameyRae : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoTo be honest, there's no wrong way to start a collab.. (That's just my opinion.) There's a Collaboration section in the Forums. So that's why people do it..

If it annoys you, Hong.. Just agree to disagree?

But thanks Simm for the tips! Appreciate it. I view it as just an addition to how people already choose to do their collabs. However, everyone should know music is an ART and ART is created via case to case basis. People are different and if you're willing to work "outside the box" and can work with diversity you're able to work with anything..

Again, great post.

simmerdown : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoyour right binab, no wrong ways in art, just stirrin' up the pot like i do, it takes more than that to get me annoyed, haha

but, hope that does not read like i'm an authority on the subject, i put this up to share what i've come across and Mostly in hopes that others will put up what they know and we can all learn something, much much to learn in this dept for me, yes...

another thing...apparently real-time online collaboration at third party sites is soon to be here, if it does not already exist...multiple collab partners working on a piece at once worldwide realtime... how sweet would that be?

n0mad23 : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoBeing olde skool, I really resisted collaborations like this. For me it's always been about NOT ONLY the music, but equally important is the the affinity between the artists. In other words, I felt like the only way it could happen is to physically sit down together and play some tunes. If it worked - hurrah. If not, well it was time to cut the losses and look for other like minded individuals.

I've done a couple of collabs with others on this site now, and I've had to revise my understanding of things.

It really does come down to the affinity you have with others creatively.

This is something you really can grok by listening to peoples' music here. Who resonates with your own aesthetic? Whose music are you drawn to again and again? These are the people you probably want to approach in terms of a collaborative project.

Good topic simmerdown!

RameyRae : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoNah I wasn't saying you were annoyed. Felt like Hong was, lol I seen post by that user elsewhere and same vibe, etc. Haha.

Another.. HUGE one, that I am SUPREMELY guilty of is ... well e-mailing people.

Poor contact looks absolutely terrible, and it is worrisome.
I haven't heard from SIENsystem in ... 7 or 8 months, and it only makes me fear for the worse, but... projects we had been working on together aside, it's still a very important thing.

That I truly need to work on lol

eshar : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoYou can collab in real time on indaba so I believe and there are other sites out there too...I think something similar is available on Soundcloud.
Sorry I sound vague about it all...my collabs are few. In the past I uploaded pellas for people to use and if they wanted to call that a collab that was fine with me.

yeshintae : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoOhm Studio is a realtime online collaborative
DAW! I've sent requests for a beta coming up
in Feb... should keep updated on this ;)

Peace from LA

simmerdown : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agocool, so it does exist already, or very soon, i'm betting that really is the future...

so true what you said n0mad, the affinity between the collaborators is essential, and afterwards theres the track to hear, but equally important is the bond that is formed, like , lol going to war together or something

so, to my mind, breaking it down, theres the meeting of the minds part, working thru the creation of the piece, and there's the technical end, making it work with the limitations of daws, uploading and distance...this tech part is where i feel there can always be ways to improve. every collab i've done, even every wave back and forth in a collab, i seem to stumble on a way to work faster and more efficiently, so, always being on the lookout for ways to do more if anybody has their tricks...

if any readers of this are new to collabs all together, i would first recommend getting an account at a media sharing site such as mediafire dot com, where you can have stems and files hosted free, becomes more and more essential as the project file size grows

n0mad23 : Sun 16th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoI just found out today that you can transfer huge files (i.e. .wav's or .aif/s) with Skype.

Naturally the transfer speed is a lot faster if you're not video chatting at the same time.

I must commend you on a very excellent write that provides a guide or basis for a solid foundation for collabs. Let's face it, the old school way is, well it's OLD! Such thinking lacks vision, depth and creativity.

Back in those days there was no internet, but like everything today music has to evolve or you will end up with, uninspiring, drab and very boring music that only the person who made it can really relate too.

Collabs the way you described simmerdown, Well this is how it's done at what would be called a record label today on the most part. People aren't hopping on planes to sit next someone especially if they have other artists in their stable.

Many people have said they are inspired by Lady Ga Ga, yuck, or Blondie (Debbie Harry), YES, now we are talking (http://www.debbie-harry.net)! So you can be inspired by people from great distances even people you don't know so as to make great music yourself. James Brown inspired much of my music.

The old school way, nice, but leave that for the old people. "simmerdown" stand up and take a bow. Your process is well thought out. I am sure someone can add a thing or two or have a complaint here or there, but what you have written and your followups on this thread rings true for me.

Everything must evolve or we'd still be using 8-track tapes and VHS videos. I have Amazon Kindle as book stores struggle to make a profit. Working with people accross great distances goes for music production and Hollywood film production as well. No more shooting movies on a single Hollywood film lot, that's the old skool way.

"there's the meeting of the minds part, working through the creation of the piece, and there's the technical end, making it work with the limitations of DAW's, uploading and distance"

i think its good to maintain the highest quality parts you can for as long into the process as possible, keep using .wav or at least 320kbps mp3 until the thing just becomes unwieldy, keep especially bass samples high res bc they seem to lose the most when you go to a lower quality...like a photo file, once youve gone down to 72dpi, theres nothing gained trying to take that image back up to 300dpi, its gone...so , by maintaining you have the option of keeping or offereing a higher res version of the cut (and i thank AudioVenom for opening my ears to the importance of this!)

Failed Collabs!!--- a big issue, and a big source of anguish for many , myself included at times...heres my take...theres a time window, after that first contact is made and the descision to work together starts, not a set time amount, but one that varies (you just know/feel it) when , "the iron is hot" , the partners are pumped to create, you've got to seize that energy a roll with it then then...and it happens that the window of opportunity passes, and ...the project fades. I wish there were some way to remove the lingering kinda (not so good!) feeling that creates...even much later, i see Alen and Yesh in here and think, ohhh, never did finish with you guys! lol... BUT, theres the positive, you tried, and you had heard enough in each others stuff to give it a shot, so...well, i dont have a way of finshing this...it happens!hahahehe!

alividlife : Mon 17th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoHey... I will read this, but I need to go...

Simmerdown?
...

Did you get that e-mail from AJ about a simple contract for collabs?!

It was really really good lol...
I e-mailed her, and I will see if I can't create a yousendit to post up here for the community, as long as it's ok with her.

eshar : Mon 17th Jan 2011 : 7 years ago@ alividlife - you could do a yousendit...but it might also be a good idea for AJ to upload the document and make it available to download from her blog. More people need to check that out...its well worth a read.

Planetjazzbass : Mon 17th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoMy version would look like this
Person
I have no idea who you are
please don't bug me again
just because you like my stuff doesn't mean I owe you anything
signed......planetjazzbass

eshar : Mon 17th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoWell the link to her blog is on her profile page...in the link section.

I also emailed her and made the suggestion that she upload the document to her blog.

@ simmerdown = I can email you the document if you want...or I'm sure Abe will oblige.

n0mad23 : Mon 17th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoAbe and Eshar - Would one of you please send this to me as well? I got the email, but there was no attachment or link.

simmerdown : Mon 17th Jan 2011 : 7 years agoplease yes, maybe we can just put the text here?... i gather now it wasn't a joke! lol